


And the Hidden Amulet

by Adapted_Batteries



Series: Land Pirate AU [3]
Category: The Librarians (TV 2014)
Genre: LiTs go hiking, Multi, The Librarians Shipathon, The Librarians Shipathon 2017, creepy cave, land pirate au, parallel universe swapping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-03
Updated: 2017-09-03
Packaged: 2018-12-23 10:57:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 7,020
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11988378
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Adapted_Batteries/pseuds/Adapted_Batteries
Summary: The Library sends the LiTs and Guardian off to Colorado, where an ancient cave suddenly revealed itself, complete with markings that make the LiTs nervous. Body swapping doesn’t really help matters either.This is the last fic I’ve got for the shipathon. The past two months have been great, and I’m super glad I participated.





	And the Hidden Amulet

**Author's Note:**

> This is a continuation in the Land Pirate AU I’ve written in before. While it’s not exactly necessary to read the previous stories, some things will probably make a lot more sense if you have. “You Sultry Land Pirates Ruined My Dig!” is first, and “The LiTs Go Clubbing” is second, which this story follows.

It had been two months since the Club 10 incident. Morgan Le Fey went off the radar again, or hid her tracks better than last time at least; Jenkins made it his priority to keep an eye out for anything of her handiwork. For the most part, the clippings book and their ongoing investigation on Dulaque had kept them busy, so when nothing rattled the clippings book and they had no progress on what Dulaque was up to, the LiTs grew somewhat restless.

“Jacob...what are you wearing?” Cassandra asked as Dr. Stone walked into the Annex.

“I figured I should find somethin’ to compare with your edgy wardrobe that didn't scream cowboy,” he replied, fiddling with the taupe scarf around his neck. He’d found a cream long sleeve shirt, some olive green pants, and grey work boots.

“I think it's an improvement,” Ezekiel quipped from his relaxed position, feet up on the desk while he scrolled on his phone. “A Nathan Drake vibe beats hick from Oklahoma any day.” Stone gave Ezekiel a confused look but paid attention to the pair of eyes currently on him.

Cassandra had been looking him over methodically. “You need more...leather. Maybe a splash of color too,” she commented, turning on her heel to make a quick trip to the costume room. Stone looked to Ezekiel, who just shrugged at him.

“Cassandra knows how to pick wardrobe, trust me,” Ezekiel said. He then looked up at Stone, eyes focusing obviously on his pants. “That being said, you look a lot more ‘edgy’ with fitted pants like those. A good looking ass and killer legs are always assets, mate.”

“You just want me for my body, don’t ya,” Stone teased, purposely jutting his hip out as he folded his arms across his chest. 

“You know it,” Ezekiel chuckled, waggling his eyebrows. 

A minute later Cassandra returned with things in hand. She laid them on the desk Ezekiel had claimed, then started handing items to Stone and giving him instructions. “Push your sleeves up, it highlights your biceps more, makes you look slightly more intimidating. The leather cuffs break up your arm while adding a rogue aspect to you. The shirt by itself is bare, so the leather straps are both practical for holding things and cool looking. The light blue cloth necklace adds a bit of color, and it looks like something you wear for personal reasons, giving your character more depth.”

Stone fiddled with the accessories for a moment. “Better?” he asked no one in particular.

“Definitely,” Ezekiel said with a smirk. “Now you look like our hired muscle.”

“When Colonel Baird isn't around then I technically am,” Stone added.

“Speaking of that, how is your training with her going?” Cassandra asked as she sat on the desk.

“Pretty good. I'm getting to the point where she doesn't kick my ass quite so much,” Stone replied, rolling his shoulders like talking about training made him suddenly sore. 

The clippings book shook on its stand, catching all of their attention. The three crowded around the large book on its stand.

“Rock-slide reveals ancient cave, hikers discover hidden cave, mysterious drawings found on new cave walls...they’re all dated for tomorrow. Sounds like we need to check out this cave,” Cassandra said.

Stone studied the newspaper clippings. “These are all from Colorado, but Native Americans didn't make cave paintings, so either someone else did it or they’re-” 

Colonel Baird walked in just as Stone got towards the end of his sentence. “Magic? What does the clippings book have for us today?”

Stone looked up at her, startled. “How did you-”

“Ezekiel texted me the highlights, and I was on my way back anyway,” she answered, gesturing with her phone as she came to stand next to Ezekiel to read the clippings. “Looks like we’re going spelunking,” She glanced at Stone, mildly amused, “and Stone here is ready to go.”

“I wasn’t...ugh,” Stone huffed, crossing his arms. He glared at Ezekiel and Cassandra who were both restraining giggles. “Go on and get ready.”

“Be back in five!” Cassandra said, giving Stone a kiss on the cheek.

Ezekiel slipped around Cassandra to do the same. “I think you look pretty sexy,” he not-so-quietly whispered into Stone’s ear, giving him a cheeky pat on the ass for good measure, then offered his arm to Cassandra. The two sauntered off to find some hiking gear.

“Cassandra help with the outfit?” Colonel Baird asked, trying to hide the smirk on her face. 

“Uh yeah, I only managed half of this,” he replied, fiddling with the leather cuff on his wrist to hide the blush Ezekiel caused.

“Hey, that’s progress,” she said. She gave him a friendly punch in the arm then started heading out the doors for her own gear. “There should be some backpacks in the supply room for us.”

“I’ll go get ‘em,” Stone said, following after her.

\---

Jenkins sent them to a visitor center in the forest. It was fairly crowded, people taking advantage of the last few days of summer before the fall rolled in, but no one paid them any mind as the group stumbled out a side door marked “Authorized Personnel Only.” 

“Alright, the cave was on Logan Peak Trail, so we need to find the trail head,” Colonel Baird said once the group regained their footing. 

“Got it,” Ezekiel said, casually sliding a map out of an unsuspecting tourist’s back pocket as they walked by.

“Dude, seriously?” Stone scoffed, rolling his eyes at him.

“What? She didn’t say how she wanted the information,” Ezekiel countered, opening up the folded paper. 

Cassandra scanned the map for a moment before pointing at a spot. “There’s roughly where the cave is, so the trail itself should be right...here,” she paused, looking up to match the map to the various paths branching from the parking lot. “There, to the north, next to the bus.”

“What’s the rating on that trail?” Colonel Baird asked while she watched people coming and going from every other trail but that one.

Ezekiel flipped the map over to the trail listings. “Um...it’s an expert level, complete with steep inclines, some rock climbing, and the loop itself runs almost twenty miles, and connects to others,” he answered, not looking as thrilled as he had before.

“Based on the satellite images, the cave is somewhere between miles four and five,” Cassandra added, poking Ezekiel to flip the map back over. “We might have to scale a small cliff face about two miles in, but I don’t remember seeing anything else on the way.”

“This is why I had you guys get good hiking boots,” Colonel Baird said, turning towards the trail in a much more excited manner than the rest of the group. “Librarians, let's get our hike on.”

The group met her excitement with various grumbles and mumbled words.

\---

Three sweaty hours later, the LiTs and their Guardian saw the freshly revealed cave, set into a steeply sloping rock face that softened as it joined the trail. The mouth was five foot wide at most. Boulders and rocks were scattered about, but none covered the trail itself.

Colonel Baird started up the slope to give the cave a look, but the others staggered over to a flatter boulder to rest. “It slopes down towards the back, but I can’t see anything once it curves,” she stated, flicking a beam of light from a flashlight around the walls of the cave. “We just need to take it slow, be careful...guys?” She turned around, not having to search hard for them.

Cassandra noticed Colonel Baird. “Can we have like, five minutes?” Ezekiel and Stone both looked up at her, guzzling water with pleading eyes.

Colonel Baird sighed, knowing she wasn’t going to get them moving any faster. “Fine. Five minutes, then we go inside.”

Even though they knew she was going to give them precisely five minutes, they still groaned and grumbled up the slope to the cave entrance. The complaints stopped once they went inside, replaced by their footsteps echoing down the tunnel. With the curve, the floor grew more jagged, becoming a set of large, shallow steps that opened to a larger chamber fifteen or so feet across and deep, and twenty feet high.

The walls, where they were smooth enough, had white symbols all over them that eerily reflected their LED flashlights. In the middle of the room was a four foot tall pillar of rock with a rounded top that jutted up from the ground, but otherwise the room was empty.

“Any idea what these symbols are?” Colonel Baird asked the room. The LiTs had gone in, but she stayed at the entrance, keeping an ear out for anyone coming in the cave.

“It’s not Native American. In fact...it looks similar to what those kids had on the floor in the basement of Club 10,” Stone replied, lightly tracing one of the symbols with his fingers. 

“Do you think she came here?” Cassandra asked from the other side of the room where she had been looking for anything suspicious with Ezekiel.

“If she did, it would’ve had to 've been a couple centuries ago. That I can tell, the paint is a mix they used in early to mid 19th century America,” Stone said. 

“You know that by just touching it?” Ezekiel said, glancing over at Stone dubiously.

“I wasn’t diggin’ in the sand in Iraq ‘cuz I didn’t know my stuff,” he retorted. “And while you guys were gettin’ ready, I checked into any literature related to this park and area, and didn’t find any mention of a cave. The oldest item, a diary, was dated eighteen forty three.”

“Okay, we get it, you’re a history nerd,” Ezekiel mocked, walking over to Stone to check out his wall for anything suspicious. “So secret cave that’s been sealed for at least a hundred and fifty years, with symbols that look a lot like what we saw with Morgan Le Fey, and a weird pillar thing in the middle. Any guesses?”

“Whatever it is, it can’t be good,” Colonel Baird said. “Stone, do you know what these symbols mean?”

“After our run in at Club 10, I read through all the Library had on magic in Europe in that millennium.” He paused when Ezekiel dropped his jaw slightly. “Yes...all. Reading is literally what I do,” he quipped, shaking his head to get back on track. “As far as her specific style, there wasn’t much I could find. She’s good at coverin' her tracks, but what she was teachin' those kids cropped up a lot in several areas over a few hundred years.” Stone had been flicking his flashlight around the room, but suddenly stopped on a particular symbol. “There, something a lot like it came up a lot in the Celtic stuff. It was a ward, a symbol of protection. What exactly it did depended on who wrote which book, but everyone agreed it was part of a ritual for protection.”

“But not all these symbols go with that ward,” Cassandra started, flicking her hands in the air in front of her. “I remember looking over your shoulder when you had a book open, I’ve seen, well not the symbols specifically, but variants, similar patterns.” After swiping at nothing, her face lit up in recognition, then she swiped the air in her grand gesture of dismissing what she saw and aimed her flashlight at another symbol. “That one, it’s really close to the one I saw for detecting beings in an area, but it’s not the same.”

“Okay so someone was setting up magical security...but for what?” Ezekiel abandoned the wall for the pillar in the middle. “Something could have been here, if someone took it before we got here.”

“No, there weren’t any prints in the dust at the entrance. The rock slide happened recently, and the park rangers haven’t gone in yet, otherwise there would’ve been a notice at the start of the trail,” Colonel Baird explained.

“Then whatever they were protectin’ is still here,” Stone concluded, deciding the pillar needed more of his attention. “These wards, they were some top level stuff. Only a trained practitioner did them. Whoever painted these walls could have easily magically hidden whatever it is.” 

Light tapping echoed around the room; Cassandra had pulled out a magical scanner she and Ezekiel had built together, and was waving it at the wall. “Did anything you read say anything about the wards regenerating, or if they decay?”

“That was another point people liked to argue on. Some said they were one use things, some said they regenerated the next day at sunrise, some said that they had to be recharged by a person after use,” Stone replied, eyes still on the pillar.

“Well whatever theory is correct, these wards have no magic in them,” Cassandra announced, pivoting towards Stone and Ezekiel. “The only reading I get is from the pillar, and it’s strong, like artifact level strong.”

Ezekiel had been feeling the base of the pillar for a trigger mechanism, so Stone touched the top, which shifted with his push, suddenly tumbling to the ground on the other side. The inside of the pillar had been hollowed out about six inches deep, housing a small, ornate wooden box. “I think I found what was givin’ off readings,” Stone said, gingerly lifting the rectangular box out of the hole. “This, the style, it’s old. Traditional carvings from thirteenth century France.” 

“Cool box...so what’s inside?” Ezekiel said, standing up next to him. 

Stone had to restrain himself from yelling about how rare a find like this was. Instead he focused his energy into carefully opening the box. A gold amulet about half the size of his palm sat inside, the red gemstone set in the middle reflecting light off its multifaceted surface. He pulled the necklace out carefully, intently studying it.

Ezekiel looked like he hadn’t been expecting jewelry. “Fancy looking necklace...okay. When’s it from?” 

After some sniffing, and a lick, Stone replied, “It’s as old as the box, if not older. I’d put it at…” 

_Something felt weird. He looked up; the room was off slightly, something changed. He still had the amulet in his hand, but now the gem was green, and he was on the other side of the pillar, alone. He shook his head and continued his statement._

“Uh, yeah, I’d put it at late twelfth, early thirteenth century, the gold from the mines of the Mali empire probably.” Stone ran a hand through his hair. His wrist felt bare, and when he brought his arm down he noticed the leather cuffs Cassandra had given him were gone. In fact, his whole outfit looked more like his normal clothes, not the outfit he’d been working on before they left.

“What, suddenly self-conscious mate?” Ezekiel quipped, drawing Stone’s attention to him. Stone could’ve sworn Ezekiel had a light grey shirt, but now it was much darker, a navy, too much to be a trick of light.

Stone shook his head, deciding to play off his confusion. “Nah, I already know you want a piece of this,” Stone said, waggling his eyebrows.

“Uh…” Ezekiel looked really caught off guard, and Stone wasn’t sure why. They did this flirting thing all the time. He glanced to Cassandra, who was also giving him a funny look, in a light green shirt, not the blue she had been wearing. 

The amulet, it must have changed something, his perception maybe, or it transported him somehow, to somewhere. Maybe they’d understand him…

_Stone’s voice faltered mid sentence. He looked around, not quite sure where he was. Ezekiel was suddenly next to him, and he’d somehow gotten on the other side of the pillar without noticing. He still had the amulet in his hand, but it was red, not the green he remembered seeing just a moment ago._

“Um...uh,” Stone lost his words, his train of thought completely derailed.

“It’s alright if you don’t know the time period, we can look it up when we get back,” Cassandra said, walking up and putting a reassuring hand on his arm.

“No, I know, it’s gotta be early thirteenth century, gold from Mali most likely,” Stone confirmed, shaking his head. He glanced to his wrists; when did he put on those bracelets? Wait, his whole outfit was not what he walked into the cave wearing.

“Are you alright?” she asked, looking at him with concern.

“Uh...I don’t...um, didn’t you have a green shirt?” Stone stammered, eyes flicking around to Ezekiel. “And you had a navy shirt, for sure.”

“Nope, I definitely walked into the Library this morning wearing this shirt,” Ezekiel said, looking at him with concern as well. “You sure you’re feeling okay?” 

“I think so,” Stone mumbled. 

Ezekiel offered his hand to Stone. “Here, let me have a look at the amulet.” Once the amulet touched Ezekiel’s hand, Stone shuddered. It was slight, but Ezekiel caught it. 

“Now why would Morgan Le Fey, or someone she worked with or trained, hide this here?” Ezekiel thought aloud, looking at the red amulet in his hand, hoping to move past whatever had just happened to Stone... 

_Ezekiel had been watching Stone ever since he picked up the amulet. Stuttering while doing his history nerd thing, that wasn’t normal at all. Neither was forgetting what clothes they had been wearing all day, and looking around the room like he didn’t know how he got there. Except now he felt the same way. That amulet had definitely been red just a moment ago, there was no way he could have confused that with the green it was now._

Everyone was looking at him expectantly, but why he didn’t know, since he just asked them a question. Maybe he hadn’t actually said it out loud? Guess it wouldn’t hurt to repeat himself. “Uh, so why would they need to hide this amulet?”

Apparently they hadn’t been expecting him to ask that. Cassandra raised an eyebrow at him. “Well, it must be valuable, whether monetarily or magically,” she suggested. “We just don’t know what it does, yet anyway.”

Ezekiel glanced back at the amulet. “With the wards, it’d have to be magical. Maybe whatever it does is controlled by a command.”

“That’s an idea, though what would activate it we have no clue,” Cassandra started, eyes focused on the amulet for a moment before she turned to look at the box, sitting unattended on the pillar top. “Stone, is there anything on the box that might help us?”

Stone grabbed the box, holding his flashlight close to it. “I can certainly look.”

Something about Cassandra seemed different, Ezekiel couldn’t quite put a finger on what though. It was like she hadn’t been hardened by years of thievery with him. She reminded him more of what she was like when they first met five years ago; innocent, a bit naive, too trusting for her own good, determined to convince him that she was worth opening up to.

Apparently that meant he was looking at her with a face that revealed he was thinking about how he low key had a crush on her for a while (guess that happens when you start actually trusting someone), complete with biting his lip.

“Are you alright Ezekiel?” Cassandra asked, snapping him back to reality. If there had been more than just flashlights for light, he could confirm his suspicion of her blushing under his gaze...

_Stone was being really odd. Flirting with him was not a normal thing at all, nor looking at himself like he forgot what clothes he put on this morning. Ezekiel hadn’t paid a whole lot of attention, but he for sure didn’t remember Stone looking like he belonged in a video game a second ago, and the amulet was not red either._

“Wasn’t the amulet green?” Ezekiel said, looking from the necklace in his hand to Stone’s weird wardrobe change. “And you definitely hadn’t been wearing those pants when we walked in here.”

“What? I’ve been wearing ‘em all day, and ya even said ya liked my ass in ‘em,” Stone retorted, looking at him with concern. Stone put the back of his hand up to Ezekiel’s forehead for a moment, then switched to cupping the side of his face. “Are ya feelin’ alright?” 

The sudden tenderness from Stone was too much for Ezekiel. Instinctively he backed away a few feet, eyes wide, not a clue why Stone was being this way like it was normal.

Stone looked at him with even more worry. “What’s wrong?”

“You wouldn’t do that, you don’t…” Ezekiel stammered, not really processing what was going on very well.

“I don’t what?” Stone said, keeping his distance even though Ezekiel could tell he was restraining himself.

“You’re straight!” Ezekiel snapped, not really meaning to be so loud, but his nerves were very on edge.

Stone looked at him, more confused now than anything else. “I dunno what happened to you...don’t you remember kissin’ me this morning?”

Ezekiel’s jaw dropped. What Stone just said made absolutely no sense; he definitely didn’t do that today, that wouldn’t be something he’d forget easily at all. “...what? I didn't...”

_Cassandra knew something was wrong with Jacob and Ezekiel, like they weren’t quite who they should be. Jacob stuttering mid-sentence, saying she had been wearing a green shirt when she definitely wasn’t, could’ve just been some odd memory loss, but Ezekiel suddenly thinking Jacob was straight was the thing that made her realize there was a problem._

“Are you two alright? You’ve both been acting weird...did something happen?” she asked. Stone looked like he was thinking, and Ezekiel responded with confused noises more than words. On a hunch, she took the amulet from Ezekiel’s loose grip, and saw him shudder. “Okay, where were you just now?”

Ezekiel shook his head, looking around the room, before answering. “I was here, but not quite. It was like you didn’t remember us at all, our past, and Stone changed his clothes…”

Ezekiel’s clothes changed, his shirt going from the grey she just saw, to a navy. He’d been mid sentence when she arrived wherever they were. “...and you said I kissed you this morning?”

Stone, definitely not wearing the cream shirt and olive pants anymore, made a noise that was part amused, part disbelief. “You definitely didn’t do anything like that.”

That gave Cassandra the information she needed. “I think I can explain that,” she started, getting both of their attention. “We must be shifting universes, and you guys are a parallel universe to mine. Everything’s mostly the same, but not quite, like the amulet. Where I came from, it had a red gemstone, but yours is green, and my Ezekiel had a grey shirt, but yours is navy…”

_Cassandra figured out why Ezekiel was so freaked out about things Stone definitely didn’t do. When she took the amulet from him, she went somewhere, to the place Ezekiel had been describing, confirmed by Stone’s obnoxious looking adventurer's outfit. They’d been swapping universes via the amulet, its red-gemmed counterpart currently in her hands where the green one had been just a moment ago._

“...Ezekiel had said you somehow changed outfit,” she continued, looking at Stone with mild amusement, “which at first didn’t make sense, but I can’t deny what I see in front of me.”

“So have we been teleporting?” Ezekiel asked.

“Not exactly. The amulet must link the consciousness of the person to their counterpart in another universe, but only if both are holding the amulets,” she explained. “Our Ezekiel came back rather freaked out...what happened over here?”

Stone bit his lip before answering her. “I told him that he kissed me this morning, which ours did.”

“Oh...well that I know of our Stone and Ezekiel’s relationship is not that, well at least not yet anyway,” Cassandra replied. 

Ezekiel was looking at her again like he had before he presumably returned to this universe. “What about us? Me and you?”

Cassandra couldn’t help the blush that came up from his gaze. “Uh, well personally I don’t feel that way...and I have Estrella now…”

“Who’s Estrella?” Stone asked, giving her a curious look.

Cassandra felt the smile before she even said anything. “My girlfriend. I guess me here hasn’t met her.”

“The name doesn’t ring any bells. Maybe she met her before you...she became a thief with me,” Ezekiel said.

It took a second for Cassandra to process that last bit. “I became a thief?”

Now it was Ezekiel who was smiling wistfully. “Yeah, just over five years ago.”

“Sounds like she had quite a life before the Library. I was just a janitor,” Cassandra started, not quite sure if she wanted to go back to what she had been wanting to ask. A few moments of awkward silence helped push her along. “So, Stone and Ezekiel, and me and Ezekiel…”

Ezekiel snickered faintly before clarifying. “It’s kind of a polyamorous relationship.”

“Kind of?” Cassandra asked, not sure what he meant by that.

“We’ve been busy, not exactly had time to explore anythin’,” Stone added.

“You know, just some unknown impending doom from Morgan Le Fey and Dula-” Ezekiel said nonchalantly, but Cassandra cut him off.

“Wait! Don’t say anything. If we gain information we otherwise wouldn’t have by ourselves, we could end up damaging our own timelines, or create new ones. We already know there are other branches from our reality.” Cassandra paused, motioning to Colonel Baird still standing near the entrance of the cave. “Our Eve traveled through them a couple years ago. I probably should go before I have a chance to say anything else.” 

Cassandra was about to put the amulet back in the box, but Stone stopped her. “Hold on. Before ya go, I wanna test somethin’.” He slipped his backpack off and dug around for the scarf he’d taken off before they hiked. “Here, grab the amulet with this. I wanna see of skin contact is what activates it.”

Taking the scarf, Cassandra wrapped the amulet in it, nothing seemingly different. “I’m still here, which tells me it’s using my electromagnetic field, my aura, to connect. It was a good idea though.”

“Would it still connect if it was in the box?” Stone asked.

“No, it shouldn’t. In the top of ours anyway, there is a cancellation ward,” Cassandra explained, holding the box so they could see, “though your symbol looks like what our Stone drew to compare our symbol to.”

“Whoever put the amulet here must have been from your universe,” Ezekiel suggested.

“It could explain why there wasn’t any magic in our wards here,” Stone said.

“Our wards didn’t have any charge either. They symbols might not be compatible with your magic, but they should still cancel the amulet’s effects since it leaks our magic, and vice versa, to connect,” Cassandra theorized. She knew it was nearing time to leave. “I’m sure your Cassandra has put two and two together. It would be best if I return to my universe.” Stone gave her a nod. 

“Have a nice...trip?” Ezekiel said, not quite sure what phrase to use.

Cassandra couldn’t help but laugh a bit. “Good luck on your mission,” she said, looking at all of them.

“You too,” Colonel Baird replied.

Cassandra placed the amulet back in the box, closing the lid softly. Her eyes unfocused for a moment, then she looked up at everyone. “Oh good, I’m back. So much unresolved tension.”

Ezekiel snorted. “Apparently not for you though. Do you know an Estrella?”

“No, but apparently she’s my girlfriend over there,” Cassandra replied.

“Alright, We can chat about relationship differences back at the Library. Let’s get heading back,” Colonel Baird said before the conversation could go any farther. After all the sort of teleporting, everyone happily agreed with her.

\---

Exhausted and sweaty, the Librarians and their Guardian stepped into the Annex. Jenkins, who they had called minutes before to activate the backdoor, was in the process of organizing the perpetually cluttered main table. “Welcome back,” he greeted. “I assume your mission was successful?”

Colonel Baird slid her backpack off and carefully took out the box. “I’d say so.”

Jenkins stared at the box with a face that was even graver than the when he found out Morgan Le Fey was active two months ago. “You...found it.”

“Yeah...whatever it is,” Ezekiel said, not thrilled with Jenkins’s expression.

Jenkins opened the box, confirmed the amulet was there, then closed it again. “It is one of a pair, the amulets of world switching...sounds more intimidating in Latin. The amulets, if worn by the same person in each universe at a time that lines up, allows the consciousnesses to switch.”

“Yeah, we figured that out…” Cassandra said, glancing to both Stone and Ezekiel.

“So your counterparts were sent to retrieve their amulet too...Morgan must be on the move,” Jenkins added.

Stone looked at Jenkins, confused. “How do ya know it’s her?”

“She was looking for our counterpart, oh, early Renaissance. There was rumor she found it, but nothing came up that I recall. I can check the previous Librarians’ diaries and logs. Perhaps one of them prompted her to hide it for safe keeping,” Jenkins replied. 

“But the paint of the cave, it was two centuries old at most,” Stone said.

“It’s plausible that she had it with her until then, or moved it then,” Jenkins suggested. 

Ezekiel had been trying to piece it together, but there was still a part he didn’t understand. “The symbols, they weren’t from our universe.”

Jenkins glanced to him, more helpless than exasperated. “I do not know everything, Mr. Jones. Perhaps her counterpart and she were working together.”

“Do you think she caused the rock slide to retrieve it?” Colonel Baird asked.

“Not likely,” Jenkins answered. “If she had, you wouldn’t have found anything.”

“Then why didn’t the Library send us out earlier, before she had a chance to go back?” she further questioned.

“Nothing notable regarding the cave would have come up in the local papers, thus the Library had nothing to send you to. It’s also possible that the rock slide activated the wards, I assume she had them there,” Jenkins paused to get the nods of confirmation before continuing, “and once used, the amulet was no longer hidden from the Library. For now, we can prevent anyone from using the amulet. I’ll go find a place for it.” Taking the box in his hands as if it was going to disintegrate if he gripped too hard, Jenkins strode out of the Annex. 

Not more than a second after Jenkins left, the backdoor glowed, and a battered Flynn holding an expensive-looking china teapot under one arm stumbled into the Annex. Colonel Baird immediately went over to him. “Welcome back...rough trip?”

“You could say that,” Flynn panted. “They did not want to give up their magical healing teapot.” He looked around the Annex for a moment. “Where’s Jenkins? Ah, I can take it to his lab. Hopefully he can fix it up, I could use a drink.” After pointing to the side at a thin line in the ceramic, he limped off to the same door Jenkins had went through.

Colonel Baird watched him staggering off. “I’ll brief him on what we found while I patch him up,” she told the LiTs before striding after him.

“Don’t have too much fun,” Ezekiel snickered.

“Speak for yourself,” Colonel Baird replied without looking back. She caught up to Flynn as he stepped through the doorway.

Cassandra, Stone, and Ezekiel awkwardly stood around, no one making any move to leave. If the Library had crickets (that weren’t contained in the bug room), they would perfectly accent the tension in the room.

Stone was the one to break the silence. “Kinda feels like we’re putting off the inevitable.”

Cassandra shrugged. “We have been busy…”

“This whole mess with Morgan and Dulaque, it’s been two months. We don’t know how long it’s gonna take, and we can’t guarantee we all make it through,” Stone continued.

“Way to rain on the parade,” Ezekiel quipped, not enthused with the serious route it was going.

“No,” Cassandra started, glancing from Ezekiel to Stone, “he’s right. What we’re going up against is big, and dangerous.”

Ezekiel folded his arms across his chest. “So what, are we just a thing now?”

“Well we kinda already were,” Stone said.

“We could...make it official, clean up then go get dinner?” Cassandra suggested, looking at the both of them. Stone gave a “sure,” and Ezekiel gave a “yeah,” with no suggestions. “So...what sounds good?”

“...pizza?” Ezekiel suggested after no one said anything. Cassandra and Stone looked at each other in amusement; they expected nothing less from him.

“Pizza it is then,” Cassandra confirmed. 

\---

An hour later the freshly-showered LiTs arrived at a local pizza joint they frequented. The sun had started to set, and the dinner crowd filled the restaurant.

“But how is the seating arrangement going to work?” Ezekiel said as they walked up to the front door. “A booth means someone gets left out, or all of us have no room whatsoever.”

“We could get a table, one of the square ones with a chair on each side, then it’s more evenly spaced,” Cassandra suggested.

“I guess that will work,” Ezekiel decided, smirk growing on his face. “We can save the cuddling for later.”

Stone looked at him, an eyebrow raised. “Later?” Cassandra was busy talking to the hostess to get them a table, no help to explain what Ezekiel meant.

Ezekiel left him hanging until they were seated at their table. “Yeah, We have a great couch at home, Cassandra likes the super plush ones. And courtesy of me, a nice flat screen and netflix,” Ezekiel finally explained with a menu in hand.

Stone peered at him. “Are you wantin’ to ‘netflix and chill’?”

Cassandra attempted to hold in her laugh, but failed. “What?” she said through giggles as Stone’s gaze zeroed in on her. “I knew he was going to try it.”

Stone huffed, but he playfully kicked at Ezekiel’s feet under the table. Once the pizza was ordered, and later arrived, the table grew silent (besides moans of cheezy satisfaction, mostly from Ezekiel) as the hungry LiTs devoured their food.

\---

“What’s this couch made of, clouds?” Stone asked, somewhat seriously as he seated himself in the middle of the plush couch at Cassandra and Ezekiel’s apartment. 

“For all I know it is,” Ezekiel said from next to the tv as he fiddled with the dimmer switch on the lights. 

“It’s great, isn’t it?” Cassandra said as she plopped down next to Stone after setting some drinks on the little coffee table in front of them. 

“I don’t know how you stay awake on this,” Stone replied, stretching his arms across the back of the couch.

“Here, watch this.” Cassandra leaned over Stone, shoving her hand into the gap between seat cushions. Stone figured out what she had been digging around for when his feet suddenly came up with what he had assumed was the non-reclining middle seat of the couch. 

“Woah, even better,” Stone said, settling back into his newly reclined position. Cassandra gave him a goofy smile as she pulled her own lever, reclining her seat.

“What do you wanna watch? Action, drama, sci-fi,” Ezekiel offered as he sat down on the other side of Stone with a controller in hand. 

“How ‘bout a documentary?” Stone suggested jokingly.

Ezekiel had been settling in, about to make his seat match theirs, but the question made him sit up and stare at Stone in disbelief. “How dare you suggest that in this house,” Ezekiel scoffed, hand on his chest.

Stone decided to push further. “Oh I know some good social ones, or there’s a bunch on all the art periods too. One of my favorites is on the-”

Ezekiel cut him off by putting a finger to Stone’s lips. “One more suggestion of educational television and you won’t be coming back here.” 

Cassandra leaned against Stone’s side. “He’s actually serious about that. Ever since we started at the Library, he deemed home a strict relaxation zone,” she whispered, not intending to be quiet. Ezekiel took his finger away, but kept it pointed at Stone.

“Well, after today’s hike, I can’t say no to that,” Stone replied.

Ezekiel kissed Stone, then settled back against his side. “Good answer.”

\---

Cassandra ended up picking _Back to the Future_ when Ezekiel scrolled through options, with no complaints from the other two. Stone hadn't been expecting Ezekiel's extensive surround sound setup, but of course shouldn't have expected anything less from him. It reminded Stone of seeing it with friends when it first came out in theaters all those years ago, minus that characteristic theater smell, way too buttery popcorn, and well worn seats of the little theater in his hometown. He definitely preferred the cloud couch and the two ex-land pirates pressed into his sides.

None of them intended to fall asleep mid-movie, but the LiTs were more tired than they realized. Cassandra was using the left side of Stone’s chest as a pillow, his arm draped loosely around her shoulders. Stone had his head back against the couch, mostly kept straight by Ezekiel’s head, whose forehead pressed right above Stone’s ear. Stone’s other arm was smushed between him and Ezekiel, hands still intertwined. 

If it weren’t for the loud thunder in the scene where Doc and Marty are preparing to return to 1985, they probably would’ve stayed asleep. Instead, Stone flinched, jostling the other two awake. 

“Sorry,” he said around a yawn.

Ezekiel had sat up, looking entirely too cute after waking up. “It’s fine. At least we can watch the end now.” 

The tinny thunder cracked again; this time Cassandra jumped a little. “I’ve never liked storms in the older movies, too sharp and crackley.”

“All those movies used the same sound clip, ‘Castle Thunder,’ which was originally recorded for the nineteen thirty one Frankenstein film. When the film industry went digital, they quit usin’ it,” Stone explained, earning a look from both Cassandra and Ezekiel. “What? I took a film course in college for an elective.”

“No, movie nerd is my spot, you get art and history,” Ezekiel said, waggling his finger at Stone for effect. 

“Don’t worry, the class was a broad overview, and I took it in the nineties,” Stone replied, ruffling Ezekiel’s already messed up hair. “You can still one up me.”

Ten or so minutes later the end credits rolled. Stone got up with Cassandra, collecting the drinks that didn’t really get consumed like intended while Ezekiel powered down the console. 

“The couch may be comfy, but the bed is better for the back,” Cassandra said after they put the drinks back in the fridge.

“Thanks for havin’ me over, guys, it was nice...including the falling asleep,” Stone said, intending to head for the door.

Ezekiel hesitated for a moment before preventing Stone from leaving by kissing him. “You could stay over, if you want,” Ezekiel said once he pulled away. 

“Uh, I mean, if it’s not any trouble,” Stone said, mildly dazed from the kiss. “The couch won’t hurt me.”

“Nonsense,” Cassandra said. “The bed will easily fit all of us.” Stone hesitated, glancing from her to Ezekiel and back, which Cassandra took as reluctance. “That is if you want to, or you can stay on the couch if you want, whatever you’re comfortable with.”

“Oh, no, bed’s fine, it’s just, um, well,” Stone stammered, suddenly feeling embarrassed, “it’s just I kinda spent the past two months wonderin’ what it’d be like to...um...not that we have to do that-”

Cassandra cut off his rambling with a kiss of her own. “You are adorable. Not that we haven’t been thinking the same thing, but I think we can all agree that we’re exhausted from today. We can...explore that...some other time.”

“What are you guys, teenagers? You can say ‘sex’ in this house. I’m all about clear communication and consent,” Ezekiel said, clearly too tired to do any awkward skirting around the point. He only barely held back the laugh that tried to free itself when both Cassandra and Stone looked at him with wide eyes and red cheeks. “Oh my god you guys are dorks. Come on, I’ve got some pajama pants that should fit you, Stone.” He grabbed Stone’s hand and gently tugged him down the short hallway to the bedroom.

Cassandra was right; the king size bed was clearly big enough to fit them all. It took up half the room easily. Ezekiel dug around in one of the drawers in the dresser, triumphantly pulling out the pants and tossing them to Stone. Cassandra, who had disappeared for a moment, reappeared with a toothbrush still in its packaging, and handed it to Stone. 

Not even ten minutes later, everyone had done their before bed routines. Ezekiel had given him an appreciative look over when Stone walked into the bedroom shirtless. He wasn’t sure how Ezekiel knew he didn’t tend to wear a top unless it was cold; more than likely Ezekiel just wanted to see him with his shirt off, he figured. 

They opted for a similar order as they were on the couch; Stone in the middle and Cassandra and Ezekiel on either side. Stone found his eyelids drooping as soon as his head hit the pillow. “G’ night,” he mumbled, giving each of them a kiss on the forehead. 

By the time he heard her reply, an echo of his statement around a yawn, he was almost asleep. He thought Ezekiel was already off in snoozeland, but just as Stone slipped into unconsciousness, he heard a faintly whispered “love you” in his ear.

Maybe he just imagined it, but Stone was sure he fell asleep with a smile on his face.

**Author's Note:**

> Stone's outfit is the outfit he wore in the alternate universe where he was the Librarian in “And the Loom of Fate.” Also the Library having backpacks prepared for them comes from hamelott’s fic which I thought was cool. That I know of, Logan Peak does exist in Utah, but in Colorado I don’t think there is one, at least that’s what google told me.
> 
> If the perspective switching tripped you up, the order it goes in (separated by italic paragraphs) is: AU Stone, canon Stone, AU Ezekiel, canon Ezekiel, AU Cassandra, and canon Cassandra. Before Stone grabs the amulet and after cannon Cassandra returns to her universe is omniscient third person narrator, mostly centering on Stone. The idea was cool in my outline...but a lot harder to write in a clear enough manner, so sorry if it was a bit confusing.
> 
> Edit on October 14th, 2017:  
> I did make a clarification on ["The LiTs Go Clubbing"](https://archiveofourown.org/works/10564050) that Flynn knows about Jenkins and the Portland Annex. Here I'll further clarify my thoughts around their relationship I failed to fill in.
> 
> I’d imagine that with Flynn and Jenkins actually knowing each other, they probably have a pretty good friendship going on. So while Flynn mainly keeps to the actual Library, he visits often, especially if he finds things he thinks Jenkins would like to study or could fix, which is why towards the end, Flynn comes to the Annex with the broken tea pot, with the hopes Jenkins can repair it.
> 
> Most of this clarification comes from the fact I failed to connect how they started at the Library in New York City to how they got to the Annex in Portland, but it would make sense if there were both spaces, that Flynn would put them there and have his own space in the Library.


End file.
